The fashion world needs to get past the dark cloud of the recession and look to a brighter day when the shopping public will be excited to buy new styles and try new colors. And that new attitude is largely being carried on the back of hot pink.


"I love fuchsia. I'm always drawn to it," says designer Thakoon Panichgul, who has had success with a hot-pink lip print in recent seasons. "It's a reaction color, and that's what fashion is. You can't quantify it, it's just you know what you like. You can't analyze it."

But you can try.

It seems hot pink is aiming to do this summer and fall what yellow did last year. The industry is using bright, happy, smiley face-worthy color to court customers back into stores. Sure, there are browns and blacks on the racks, and that very well may be what people end up with in their bags, but eye-catching they are not.


"Hot pink is all over the place right now," says Hope Greenberg, fashion director at Lucky. "Right now, designers need to do something that will capture your attention at retail. You really need clothes that are going to jump out at the customer."